We were thrilled to have Nick Bown, Senior Engineer responsible for new business and aero-acoustic technologies at Dowty, recently present a paper at the 2024 AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition (AIAA SciTech Forum) on behalf of the IRON (Innovative turbopROp configuratioN) consortium.
As lead author on the paper, entitled ‘Experimental and Analytical Evaluation of Low-Noise Propeller Designs for Large Regional Aircraft’, Nick took to the stage in Florida to present the results of the IRON project during the Conference’s ‘Propeller, Open Rotor, and Rotorcraft Noise II’ session.
IRON, part of Clean Sky 2, aimed to drastically reduce the environmental impact of future regional aviation by reducing noise levels, fuel consumption, CO2 and NOx emissions. The project was coordinated by CIRA, the Italian Aerospace Research Centre, with Leonardo responsible for setting the performance targets for the aircraft. There were also a number of other core partners, in addition to Dowty – Avio Aero, CENAERO, GE Aviation Advanced Technology (AAT), NLR, and ONERA.
As Nick explains, “It was a privilege to be able to represent the IRON consortium at the conference and share the exciting results from the project which demonstrated the significant propeller noise reductions available for future platforms. The presentation was really well attended despite being the last one of the session on a Friday afternoon but this did allow the opportunity to discuss the project and results in more detail with many of the audience.”
You can find out more about the IRON project on the Dowty news page: https://dowty.com/innovation-news/the-iron-project-the-future-of-regional-aviation/
Paper Abstract
Two innovative, low noise propellers have been designed against a comprehensive set of requirements for a next generation propeller driven regional aircraft. These designs have been scaled down for wind tunnel testing and have shown significant noise reduction when compared to a state-of-the-art conventional design. Testing has been carried out at both low-speed conditions associated with the community noise certification points and at a high-speed cruise condition and a summary of the results are presented. Corrections have been derived to align the test data for a direct comparison of the propeller performance and noise. Unsteady aero-acoustic simulations of the wind tunnel configurations at cruise are also presented which show they are capable of predicting, with reasonable accuracy, the differences in efficiency and tonal noise between the three propeller designs.
To purchase the paper, please visit the Aerospace Research Central website.
About AIAA
The AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition (AIAA SciTech Forum) program covers the science, technologies, and policies that are shaping the future of aerospace. The forum is the largest event for aerospace research, development, and technology in the world—bringing together 11 individual technical disciplines. AIAA SciTech Forum delegates include over 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students, and aerospace professionals from nearly 1,000 corporate, academic, and government institutions in 43 countries.